Dr. Clif CleavelandKillings by gunfire occur with numbing frequency in our country. Solitary murders capture local, media attention for a day or two. Double or triple homicides will evoke wider coverage.
Mass murders generate national headlines and claim our attention for a longer interval before we move on to other concerns related to legislative paralysis, foreign turmoil and a tentative economic recovery.
The massacre of 20 children and six of their teachers in Newtown, Conn., is different in terms of the profound shock and sadness that has reverberated around the world. Pictures of the young victims remind us of our own children and grandchildren and the lives which we hope will unfold before them.
To prevent the next shooting disaster we need solid information upon which we can evaluate issues of gun ownership and formulate sound policy. Unfortunately, gun advocates within the Congress took steps years ago to block such inquiries. This sad chapter in covert politics in documented by Drs. Arthur L. Kellermann and Frederick P. Rivara in an online article in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In 1996, pro-gun Congressmen worked to shut down the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Their efforts were stalled, but the group eventually succeeded in reducing appropriations for research in injuries related to firearms.